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Contents of a Text-Based Syllabus

Contents of a text-based syllabus

As its name implies, the core units of planning in TBI are text types. These are identified through needs analysis and through the analysis of language as it is used in different settings. (Text based teaching thus has much in common with an ESP approach to language teaching, discussed above). However the syllabus also usually specifies other components of texts, such as grammar, vocabulary, topics and functions, hence it is a type of mixed syllabus, one which integrates reading, writing and oral communication and which teaches grammar through the mastery of texts rather than in isolation. The following text-types are included in the Certificates in Spoken and Written English, which are widely taught language qualifications in Australia.

Information texts Descriptions; Explanations; Reports; Directives; Texts which combine one or more of these text types

Story texts Recounts; Narratives

Persuasive texts Opinion texts; Expositions; Discussions

A text-based approach has been adopted in Singapore and forms the framework for the 2002 syllabus for primary

and secondary schools. In the Singapore context the text types that are identified can be understood as forming the communicative building blocks Singapore children need in order to perform in an English-medium school setting. The text types in the syllabus are: